1918 Enfield No. I Mk. III* SMLE pics.

Here are some pics I took in a hurry of my No. I Mk. III* made in 1918 (it has no import marks on it at all). I bought it for $75 USD back in July at an auction and was the only bidder on it, but it has been badly bubba'd. The stock is in terrible shape and has some minor suface rust I'm getting rid of. The bore was extremely dirty and came out pretty nice after some cleaning. There is very minor pitting in it. I would like to restore it, but it's looking like it will be expensive and may just sell it. I've only fired it once and put one .303 round through it that I had laying around.

There was a small piece of wood remaining on the top handguard that sits behind the rear sight, but I removed it for the pics to show the different markings on the reciever.

But the rest of the wood has been hacked away pretty much, but I believe the full length barrel was retained. I don't get why people hack up these beautiful rifles, all they are doing is taking a rifle that has quite a bit of kick, and making it lighter and it now has more kick because of the reduced weight.

If you find that you have a good shooter and/or just looking to restore it , you could check in with Numrich or SpringfieldSporters . Numrich has a numbered schematic which really helps for getting all the right parts.

"Back in the day" these rifles were sold pretty cheap and soon became a very affordable hunting rifle , so cutting them up wasn't really an issue . Only a few thought about any historic value.
And yes , lightening did give more felt recoil , but...when a hunter bears down on a deer /moose , recoil is almost nonexistant. Must be an adrenalin thing...

Really doesn't look like it is in all that bad of condition. You could have yourself a nice piece of history for really minimal in it. It doesn't take much to make these things work if anything is broken. As others have said, Numrich carries just about anything that you could possibly need to get her back in shape.

So I take it you are keeping the rifle? That is what I was hoping to hear...LOL. Both of my Lee-Enfield Rifles started out their time with me as "sporters" that I pieced back together. I'm happy with both of them, and hope to find more that I can "restore", I think it is funner than buying a pristine all matching numbers collector rifle, that is just how I feel.

From what I recall, it seemed that Springfield Sporters was a bit cheaper than other firearms parts sites. But it has been a while since I ordered any parts, so that might no longer be the case. Have fun with you rifle.
Thanks
Mark

So I take it you are keeping the rifle? That is what I was hoping to hear...LOL. Both of my Lee-Enfield Rifles started out their time with me as "sporters" that I pieced back together. I'm happy with both of them, and hope to find more that I can "restore", I think it is funner than buying a pristine all matching numbers collector rifle, that is just how I feel.

From what I recall, it seemed that Springfield Sporters was a bit cheaper than other firearms parts sites. But it has been a while since I ordered any parts, so that might no longer be the case. Have fun with you rifle.
Thanks
Mark

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I am going to keep it for now and restore it slowly. Then I'll see how well I like it and everything, I may keep her and I may sell her eventually, but this is my first Lee-Enfield and I don't really wanna part with her unless I needed the cash or something. The rilfe has all matching parts except for the rear sight, on the bottom the original SN was stricken out and and stamped with F 8825